Notre Dame de Rouen. The façade of the Gothic Church in France. Photographer: Hippo1947. Licence: SHUTTERSTOCK.

Monday 16 September 2024

Lincoln Cathedral. The Cathedral Church Of The Blessed Virgin Mary Of Lincoln. (Part Six).



The Vault of Lincoln Cathedral’s Nave.
Photo: 22 March 2019.
Source: Own work.
Author: Cc364
(Wikimedia Commons)


Text from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.

A major renovation of The West Front was undertaken in 2000. It was discovered that the Flying Buttresses on The East End were no longer connected to the adjoining stonework, and repairs were made to prevent collapse. 

Additionally, the stonework of The Dean’s Eye Window, in the Transept, was crumbling, meaning that a complete reconstruction of the Window has had to be carried out according to the conservation criteria set out by the International Council on Monuments and Sites

There was a period of great anxiety when it emerged that the stonework needed to shift only five mm (0.20 in) for the entire Window to collapse. 



The Angel Choir Gallery, Triforium,
Clerestory, of Lincoln Cathedral.
Photo: 15 September 2018.
Source: Own work.
Author: Cc364
(Wikimedia Commons)

Specialist engineers removed the Window‘s Tracery before installing a strengthened, more stable, replacement. In addition to this, the original Stained-Glass was cleaned and set behind a new clear isothermal glass, which offers better protection from the elements. By April 2006, the renovation project was completed at a cost of £2 million.

An announcement in January 2020 stated that, since 2016, archaeologists had found over fifty burials during the renovations, including a Priest buried with a Chalice and Paten. 

Among the artefacts recovered was a coin depicting Edward the Confessor, who was King from 1042 to 1066. During the dig, sections of some extensively decorated Roman buildings and related artefacts were also discovered. 



The Choir, Lincoln Cathedral.
Photo: 30 July 2014.
Source: Own work.
Attribution: Photo by DAVID ILIFF.
Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
Author: Diliff
(Wikimedia Commons)

Some of the Roman, Mediæval, and Saxon, objects were to be displayed at the Visitor Centre which was expected to open in 2020.[43][44] In 2022, the scaffolding of Lincoln Cathedral was removed from its Great West Front after thirty-six years.[45]

Maintaining the Cathedral costs £5.86 million a year.[46] Between 2006 and 2009, up to 208,000 people visited Lincoln Cathedral annually. In 2010, the figure dropped to 150,000, making it the sixteenth-most-visited attraction in the East Midlands.[47] 



Lincoln Cathedral.
Photo: 20 February 2017.
Source: Imported from 500px (archived version
Author: Harry Small
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Western Towers, Lincoln Cathedral.
Photo: 4 December 2014.
(Wikimedia Commons)


Lincoln Cathedral.
Available on YouTube

The fall in visitor numbers was attributed to the cancellation of the Lincoln Christmas Market that year.[48]

The Cathedral offers tours of the Cathedral, the Tower, and the Roof. The peak of its season is the Lincoln Christmas Market, accompanied by an annual production of Handel's Messiah.[50]

PART SEVEN FOLLOWS.

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